


Fata Organa

by MissjuliaMiriam



Series: DC Drabbles [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Loneliness, Panic, fear spell, mindless angst, someone else's idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-15 04:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissjuliaMiriam/pseuds/MissjuliaMiriam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Tim knows Ra’s, but Ra’s only sees flashes, even if those flashes are of the purest possible emotion.</p><p>Written for a plot bunny by lectoral, on Tumblr:</p><p>http://lectorel.tumblr.com/post/32105853506/fic-i-am-not-going-to-write-because-it-is</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fata Organa

**Author's Note:**

> IDEK what this this. It’s really short, and it’s a bit unfinished, but I’m not planning to write any more. Enjoy.

Tim thinks that maybe he should be content. Moving to Metropolis freed him from those who would in one breath ask for perfection, and in the next scold him for overworking himself. He has no obligation to anyone, anymore, and he can fill his life with work as he has always tried so hard to do in the past, and been held back from. And yet, most mornings he barely can drag himself from the haven of his bed, and those days that he must be in Gotham are trials. He has shed too many of the people he loves, he thinks, shaken them from his back like water from a duck, because that was easier. He had thought that doing so would also shake the weight of his love for them from his shoulder. But it hasn’t, and now he bows beneath the weight of loneliness on top of all else. Most days, Tim is solivagant and sad, and he doesn’t know how to reach out any more. He feels more like a doll than a human.

It is only because Ra’s cuts him that he knows that he can still bleed. He’s nearly died a dozen times or more during his battles with Ra’s al Ghul, and yet, Tim respects Ra’s, considers him a friend and a mentor. Ra’s has not taught Tim more than Bruce has, but what Tim has learned during their conflicts has done much better by him than anything he learned as Robin. It is, for Tim, a blessing to be able to let his expectations of himself fall to the wayside and lose for once, because in this, he is Tim Drake and nothing else. When he fights with Ra’s, he is simply himself, not Tim Drake-Wayne, or Timmy, or Red Robin. Just Tim. And in that way, he and Ra’s stand as equals.

Their give and take, the shedding of blood and destruction of property along with exchange of banter and wisdom, and the companionship of someone who can be known and never forgotten about, is invaluable to Tim. It is a comfort to him that he knows Ra’s, that Ra’s will always be his and no one else’s in this way, that there is one constant in his life. Ra’s is dependable if not predictable, and Tim takes joy from knowing him. The games they play are beyond distorted, but they are worth the time spent on them.

Tim is happy with things staying the way they are. For all that he has his own troubles, he finds some happiness in fighting with Ra’s, and Ra’s seems to feel the same. It is enough. Unfortunately, it is Tim’s life, and therefore nothing can go exactly the way he wants.

Tim goes to Gotham to help out with a troublesome magic user that has shown up. The man is young, and mostly interested in money, and he gets it by casting a fear spell that drives the victim home so that he can track them and learn their weaknesses, or simply steal their valuables and leave. Already several of Gotham’s elite have fallen prey, running to the place they feel the safest, their mindless panic leaving any defences they may have wide open. Bruce is understandably troubled, as if he is caught by the spell, he would certainly run to the cave, and having a villain know the identity of the Batman cannot be allowed.

It takes a while to find him, and in that time, he finds them. Or rather, he finds Timothy Drake, who is catching up on Wayne Enterprises business while he’s in town. Babs, who has been monitoring the Batman and all of his allies while they search for this man in case any is enchanted and runs for the cave, notifies Dick and Bruce instantly, making sure they’re ready to catch Tim should he head for their base of operations.

To everyone’s surprise, Tim runs in the opposite direction, and as they’re securing the magic user, Tim slips out of Gotham. No one knows where he’s gone, he simply vanishes, and even Oracle’s all-seeing eyes cannot find him.

In another part of the country, Ra’s wonders where it is that his Detective has gone. Tim dropped off the map, and Ra’s, unaware of the exact events that had taken place in Gotham, could not think of where Tim might have gone, that even Ra’s could not find him.

Two days later, there is a knock at his door, and Ra’s wonder who it is that might be coming to visit. When he opens the door of the penthouse apartment that he is currently inhabiting, and Timothy is standing there, he is surprised. Tim is shaking, hands clutching at his arms, and his clothes- civilian clothes- are mussed. He looks up at Ra’s, breath shaky, eyes bright with panic, face pale, and reaches out abortively, then draws back to hug himself again.

Something is very wrong, Ra’s can tell. This is not at all like his Detective, rarely one to visit, never in civilian clothes, and never, ever, has he been so frightened. Of what, Ra’s not know, but he intends to find out. He intends to find out, and then destroy it as painfully as possible.

“What has brought you here?” he asks, opening the door wider to allow Tim entrance. Tim stumbles in, barely on his feet for the strength of his shuddering.

Tim says nothing, his breath still too shaky even to form words.

“Detective,” Ra’s says, his voice hard. “Tell me.”

“There was-” Tim stops, and nearly collapses onto Ra’s’ couch, tucking himself into a small ball. “Warlock. Some sort of fear-spell. I needed-” Tim stops again, and looks up at Ra’s with wet, ocean coloured eyes. “I needed somewhere safe.”

“And this is safe?” Ra’s asks gently, coming to sit next to Timothy. He wishes to draw the smaller man close, but cannot bring himself to violate that careful distance when Tim is so compromised.

Ra’s’ respect for Tim’s boundaries comes to nothing, and Tim leans close, begging for touch without words. Ra’s turns sideways so that Tim can slump against him, and then wraps his arms around Tim’s waist.

“This is safe,” Tim says, and slowly the shaking stops, and his breathing evens, until he is completely still against Ra’s’ chest. The only movement is his breathing, and Ra’s thinks that Tim has fallen asleep in the wake of the fear that had gripped him.

It is utterly disturbing to Ra’s that this of all places is safe for Tim. Ra’s has tried to kill him again and again, has threatened everything he loves, has made him bleed. And yet, when panic took hold, Tim came here. Ra’s’ Detective is broken somewhere, he can now see. And it is a wonder that Ra’s has not yet noticed, that he has not seen until now that Tim is fighting on every front, to the point where his greatest enemy is his only safe haven. If Ra’s were a weaker man, he would be fighting the urge to throw up. As it is, he simply wants to protect Timothy from any more pain, and so tucks the boy closer to his body and watches out his window, wondering when- or  _if-_  Timothy’s family will come to retrieve him.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are welcome as always!


End file.
